Marilyn Holifield, a trailblazing attorney who has spent her life paving the path to equality, tolerance, and opportunity for all, will be among the speakers at the 1 p.m. School of Law commencement ceremony on December 17, 2021 for the 78 LL.M. and J.D. candidates.
Miami Law Alumni to Participate
Joining Holifield at the podium will be Presiding Trustee Laurie Silvers, J.D. ’77. She is a two-time University alumna, successful attorney, media entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Silvers is founder of the SyFy channel and current chair of the University of Miami Board of Trustees.
The alumni speaker Devang B. Desai, J.D. ’03, is currently President of the Board of Directors of the University of Miami Alumni Association. Like Silvers, he also earned two degrees from the University of Miami – one in political science and the other a J.D. – cap stoning the lasting connection to the law school by becoming president of its Law Alumni Association. An experienced litigator, Desai is a partner in the South Florida law firm of Gaebe, Mullen, Antonelli & DiMatteo. He has also served on several nonprofit boards and is an ex-officio member of the University’s Board of Trustees.
Commencement Speaker Holifield Fought for Equality
Holifield is a widely admired litigator who represents corporate clients for the Miami-based international law firm, Holland & Knight LLP. But as one of three Black students to desegregate Leon High School in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1963, she was treated with vile contempt.
Rather than use her name, her classmates called her the N-word and, one morning, pelted her with raw eggs as she stepped off the bus. Distraught but undaunted, Holifield, the daughter of a nurse and a scientist, went home, changed her clothes, and returned to school, determined to earn her diploma and fight for equality, tolerance, and diversity.
One of a few Black students at both Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School, she co-founded the Swarthmore Afro-American Student Society and edited the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. At the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in New York City, she worked on a landmark prison-reform case that improved treatment of Black inmates and a discrimination suit against Pullman Standard, which secured better conditions for Black rail workers.
She also served as general counsel for the New York State Division for Youth and clerked for a federal appellate judge before Holland & Knight recruited her as its first Black associate. Five years later, the firm elevated Holifield to partner—the first black woman to hold that title at a major law firm in Florida.
Thirty-five years later, Holifield still litigates, but also devotes considerable energy to mentoring young lawyers, supporting art from the African diaspora, and lending her counsel to three major educational institutions. The co-founder of the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora, she is a member of the University of Miami Board of Trustees, the Harvard University Board of Overseers, and Swarthmore’s Board of Managers. She has received numerous honors for her law practice, professionalism, and civic engagement.
To maintain social distancing protocols established for the ongoing pandemic, students will be limited to six guests each.
To watch remotely, the ceremonies will be livestreamed.
